Hotel Magnifique by Emily J. Taylor

I usually do not pay attention to books when the descriptions liken them to something else. If I had, I might not have chosen to pick it up! Unlike a majority of the readers whose reviews and gushing I have had the privilege to read, I am not a fan of The Night Circus. Something was lacking in it for me, and even a reread did not fix that. I am mentioning it all here because this book is what I imagined when I had first seen the reviews of the former.
This is a book about siblings over everything else. Magic comes a close second. The world which we visit is not favourable to magicians. There is only one place where it is still practised freely and known to everyone. That is the Hotel Magnifique. When it comes around, it sends invites to people and puts up advertisements for a workforce. It is only when one sibling is chosen without the other that things start to change.
What I admired most about the characters was that none of them was altruistically good. There was a tinge of selfishness to every good deed or supportive help. This also led me to guess the twist towards the end, the only reason it was not a complete five star read for me. It was a more obvious direction to take the narrative, and I was hoping for something more.
The story is about discovering, resolving past secrets, and tracing a new direction for the lead protagonists to move. The love story (or the almost love story, to be more precise) is in the background but does feature in how the story turns at times.
The adventure aspect also intrigued me, and I almost got a whiff of the Magic Faraway tree without the happy parts.
I would recommend this to readers of the fantasy genre who like a single book which does not extend to a series. It has a very satisfying conclusion, and I would read another book by the author if I had the chance.
I received an ARC thanks to NetGalley and the publishers, but the review is entirely based on my own reading experience.